As of August 1, the cross quarter day between the summer solstice and the autumn equinox, we’ve shifted into the other side of summer. It’s a season between. The consumer culture wants us to skip over this time in anticipation of “sweater weather” and pumpkin spice lattes, but the earth calls us to slow down and notice the wonder of this particular moment in the year. In the color, vibrance and smell of a ripe tomato in the garden, the taste and abundance of peaches, peppers, beans and squash flowing in, the onset of those shimmery sounding insects, the cooler mornings arriving in mist—all of our senses are awakened.

From those days back in the spring with the mere glimpses of green sprouting up from the ground, we have arrived at this season of life literally spilling over everywhere— creeping, crawling, climbing, blooming—much to the delight of all the bees, butterflies, bugs and birds. Despite the lack of discipline, I have to remind myself that this is the point. I can let up on the planning, managing and coaxing. It’s time to enjoy.

Fall will come, but let late summer have her day.

Wishing everyone some SLOW in this special season.

~ Mary

Tune in to this fascinating conversation with Julie Brams — an earth-centered psychotherapist, certified forest therapy guide, meditation teacher, and the author of The Nature-Embedded Mind: How the Way We Think Can Heal Our Planet and Ourselves.

Jill Demers is the founder of ReWild Ranch in Montana, a one-of-a-kind regenerative farm, wellness destination, and educational space, rooted in the one question she's been asking for over two decades: Why are Americans so disconnected from their food — and at what cost? Part 2 of this conversation is coming soon!

From Mary: After I watched the new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie on Netflix, I was inspired to go back to the books. Reading them as an adult has given me much to think about regarding the westward expansion and our country’s homesteading movement, particularly since they are told from a child’s point of view. I’m now reading Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, a biography by Caroline Fraser, to get a closer look at the grown up story. It’s an eye-opener, to say the least. I’m looking forward to exploring these topics more on The Good Dirt!

From Emma: Last weekend, on Saturday 8/8 (if you’re an astrology fan, you might know that this is a very auspicious day for manifestation), I accessed the portal of my own creativity and made up the best August summer dessert I’ve ever had. While I can’t claim that I’m the first person to ever do this (surely not, I hope), I am the first person I know of to do it, so I tasked myself with naming this concoction. None of the combinations of Lambrusco + float + cream were speaking to me, so I’ve landed on an Emma Palmer 😂👩‍🦰. An Emma Palmer is like an Arnold Palmer, but instead of iced tea and lemonade, it is Lambrusco & Vanilla Ice Cream.

🍷🍦

I’ve also started a new job this summer (I can’t wait to share more about it!), which means I all of a sudden have far more work responsibilities than I’ve ever had. As a freelancer who layers jobs, this means adding another dimension of my working reality (something I’m very used to), but it also means fighting a little harder to rest in the stillness and slowness of summer without getting whisked away. I’m grateful for my mom and this project we have together to keep coming back to—it keeps me grounded. And I’m grateful for your patience with the ebbs and flows here while we navigate everything. Lady Farmer continues to be such a gift to us, in whatever form she’s able to take.

Abundant and beautiful, violets were my inspiration for the spring version of this Basic Cookie Recipe. In this one I switched from oat flour and warming spices, to organic wheat flour and some fresh lemon juice to brighten up the flavor for the season. The addition of the blossoms is a treat for the eyes as well!

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We might not all be gardeners, but growing things is important— especially now. And If we think of growing something as cultivating love and affirming beauty, there are ways to do that everywhere you look.

We can all do some little thing to grow goodness in the world.

We can offer a kind word to the person checking out our groceries, call someone we haven’t seen in a while, make a coffee date, take a gratitude walk. We can look deeply into the eyes of another creature, human or otherwise, take a long slow breath, speak to a tree. We can hug a child, share a laugh, hold a hand. We can not squish the spider. We can bless the rain—out loud.

We can sing, no matter how we think we sound. We can stop and listen to the birds, take our shoes off, whistle for no reason. We can love the sound of the tree frogs and the taste of a strawberry and the feel of a handful of dirt.

You get the idea. It’s spring, it’s warming up, the sun is coming out…

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This week, however, it has crept above freezing for a few hours here and there and the icy surfaces are beginning to give. Beautiful wet, muddy ground is showing up in patches. And below the surface, seeds are starting their journey up towards the light.

Yes, it’s time for SEEDS! We’re getting so excited about the new garden season around here and we know many of you are too. When shopping for seeds, we can highly recommend our friends at Pinetree Garden Seeds (listen to our …

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In our Lady Farmer community, we embrace Brigid of Kildare as a significant figure in both history and legend, and for what she brings to us in our practice of slow living through the seasons. To hear more of the rich folklore and stories of the legendary St. Brigid, tune in to Episode #27 of The Good Dirt Podcast, featuring spiritual director Kathy Spaar who guides us into a deeper connection with this ancient wisdom.

As we ourselves emerge from the deep freeze of this memorable winter season—and from a time of gestation for Lady Farmer— we want to announce something new coming for spring ‘26.

Beginni…

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Nature calls us into a time of pause and rest in the darkness. All the while, there’s the cultural buzz of impending celebrations, creating a whole new to-do list that hurls us in the opposite direction of peace and reflection.

In slow living through the seasons, we can observe what we love about this time— to identify what nurtures and delights us— and separate that from the artificial hustle designed to drain us of our time, energy and money.

We speak of the “holiday season” as that stretch of weeks leading into winter, from Thanksgiving through New Year’s and all that’s in between–including Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. All of these refer to specific religious and cultural traditions, which means we aren’t all cel…

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But it’s getting colder now and the darkness is growing, along with a fear in your heart of what’s to come in the long, cold months ahead. The leaves are falling from the trees to decay on the ground, leaving only the stark, bare branches against the landscape. The once-dense foliage is dying back. There is a sense of impending death all around, of returning to the earth. As the frost becomes more frequent, so do the mists of dawn and twilight, and perhaps those vague, disturbing glimpses of something in the atmosphere are …

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The first thing I did, as always when this happens, was prop open both doors with a brick, close the door to the kitchen and leave for a few minutes. This usually does the trick. But when I came back, the little guy was still banging around way up in that corner, not anywhere near either door. I’m not a hummingbird expert by any means, but I do know that they burn an extraordinary amount of energy just by beating their wings— and I worried that he might quickly exhaust himself up there in that “no exit” zone. A Google search suggested only the obvious— a rake, …

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• 1 pint of small, sweet red garden peppers or 2 medium red bell peppers

• 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated

• ¼ cup mayonnaise

• ¼ cup finely chopped onion

• 1 crushed garlic clove

Steps:

• Coarsely chop the red peppers and cook them lightly in a saucepan with olive oil until they are soft. Set aside to cool

• Combine grated cheese, mayonnaise, onion and garlic in a bowl

• Add cooked peppers and combine all the ingredients using an immersion blender or in a food processor

• Continue until ingredients are blended and mixture is smooth and spreadable.

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"Once you have an understanding and a love for something, it becomes a lot more natural and inherent to want to take care of it, steward it."

- Janna Hockenjos

To our dearest Lady Farmer Community,

We are so proud to bring you this episode with Janna Hockenjos, a returning guest and creator of the environmental education organization Earth Friends. We spoke to Janna earlier this summer as a bit of a check-in on how things were going with the early childhood curriculum she’s been working on over the past few years. What transpired was a beautiful reflection on how far not only she has come, but a wonderful reminder of how far our little podcast has come, and how far our community has come.

Now in our tenth year of community building with Lady Farmer and creating a resource for those looking for a slower, more sustainable lifestyle— and almost 6 years of interviews, listening, editing, and sharing on The Good Dirt podcast— we find ourselves at a place where a real pause is necessary.

I had my baby just over a year ago now (13 months this week!), and just last week became an aunt for the first time :). My mom is now enjoying full grandmother status, and in addition to her tireless commitment to all of the online, visible, computer parts of this project (would you believe she does most of the editing herself now?) she fully enjoys the beautiful little plot of land she and my Dad have cultivated with such joy, care and creativity over the past 12 years. We both continue to remain committed in all of our efforts to really walk the talk at home and in our lives.

We’ve spent a lot of time listening, talking, and sharing, with nary a true break for fear of losing momentum, or falling short of our desire to offer new and inspiring content week after week. But as we all know from observing nature herself, rest is essential to the rhythm of life—and so we’ll be taking a break from the weekly podcast for the rest of the year.

We’re excited to be finally giving that gift to ourselves—the one we encourage you all to embrace—to slow down, to pause, and to allow ourselves room to be inspired. We want to see what will emerge without the constant need to record, edit, produce, and publish.

As soon as we even just let ourselves entertain the idea of a full un-plug, a space was created for new ideas to flood in, and we’re so excited to see where they take us. We do plan to return next year—refreshed, invigorated, and ready to continue the conversations we’ve been having, and to start new ones as we usher in the new paradigm (it’s been a rocky shift already, hasn’t it?!).

While this newsletter does have a paid subscription option, and you might very well be signed up for it, we’ve paused all payments indefinitely—so you won’t need to do anything on your end.

And we’ll still be here on Substack— sharing our inspirations, photos and updates as they come. Who knows, without a weekly podcast to produce, you might just hear from us more consistently in this space. After all, the idea is to change things up a bit to see what might happen. As you remain subscribed, you will see where we are and remain informed. So stick around—we aren’t going away!

We appreciate you so much. We look forward to growing our community into whatever is next and to bringing you so much more of The Good Dirt!

Lady Farmer LOVE,

Emma (& Mary)

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